Clapping chalkboard erasers together. Changing a record player needle Hand washing the dinner dishes every night Tucking the bottom sheet under the mattress because fitted sheets hadn't been invented yet.
At the end of the school day...helping the teacher fill up the ink bottles at each desk. That was in the 3rd and 4th grade at a 4 room school house on the far east side of Dallas.
I didn't think of it as a "chore" but I was turned loose at five years old to weed the onion patch. I could recognize the onions leaves, and was told to pull anything else. Weeding with my daddy was not a chore! A little older, I got to iron my daddy's handkerchiefs and progressed to garments, sheets, etc. I liked to iron because I could listen to the radio while I did it. Mowing the grass was definitely a "chore"!
Cycling to do the weekly shop for my Mom, both handlebars of the bike laden holding a heavy bag each. Cycling up hills was fun. Driving sheep / cattle on the public roads.
Where to start--- Forking cut hay up onto wagons for the barn, then after riding it to the barn, then forking it into the barn. Later it was bales. Shucking corn and then removing it from the cob (bare-handed). Walking out and looking for the milk cows to bring them back for milking in the evening. Milking cows with my hands. Harrowing ploughed fields. Ploughing behind a mule. Mucking out stalls. Gathering eggs from under the chooks. Hand picking veggies for supper. Picking worms off veggies and tobacco. Spiking tobacco onto tobacco sticks Hanging tobacco sticks up in the rafters of the barn. Stripping wooden floors and re-polishing them. Doing the grocery shopping for our family. This all may tell my age a bit, but it was also because we could not afford modern equipment. You could ask what all the adults were doing while I was doing chores. Well, they were working too, but anyone who has had a farm, knows there is so very much work to do. My grandparents did most of the work by themselves...but I was sent to them for three months in the summer. When we would tell what we did during the summer at school--my classmates just sat there with open mouths. No one in our school had anything to do with something so mundane and common as farm work. hahaha. Well, I didn't always enjoy my role as farm chore performer---I would have rather spent my time walking or fishing...but in those days, a child had no say-- we were seen and not heard. chortle. Well, as I look back, I have to say that the hardness and values that I learned each summer has helped form my character in adulthood and I satisfied with the outcome.
Getting coal from the coal cellar for the living room fire. Going for paraffin for the kitchen stove. I hated doing both as the coal was so heavy and the paraffin can would cut into my hands on the mile long journey home.
Walking thru the garden my brother and I were appointed by my father as the "official" tomato worm stomper..
Oh, Eileen, that reminded me! We had a coal-fired furnace, and after Daddy died, it was my job to keep the hopper (it was a bin with a big screw-like thing that fed coal into the firebox) full. It wasn't so bad in the early winter, but after the coal bin got depleted, filling the hopper involved walking into the bin, getting a shovelful of coal, and walking to the hopper. For a 13 year old, the shovel was heavy, the walk was long, and that bin seemed terribly large.
I had forgotten about Radishes.....my Mom, Dad and I loved them so when we were living in the country in Arkansas Mom had a small garden so she could keep us well stocked with them. My job was to go out each early evening to pick some to eat with supper. I put off that job until after dark one night .... the neighboring farm had cows and those cows that scared me. But I went out, picked an apron full of radishes and then a cow (close to the fence) moooooooooed. I was only 4 1/2...I dropped the radishes and ran. Mom made me go back to get them but Daddy went out with me to scare off the cows.
Going to school at a young age coming home and enjoying cleaning in the home ….which drove my mom soft as she couldn't find important letters etc she needed and at the time she did two cleaning jobs and I was behind her...I just loved it but now it's total mental torture
I'm rather amazed that so many had chores similar to my own childhood. I didn't need to feel sorry for myself, had I known other children suffered the same plight! I carried pails of water from a natural spring in a hillside. I tended the younger children. My Mama died when I was three and a half. When my new sister was born I was six years old. By the time my new brothers came, I was old enough to wash diapers and lamented the chore heartily. Never mind that Mother , older sister and older brother had far more work to do! That Daddy slaved daily in a mill making fabric. My most detested chore was actually a paying job. My older sister, older brother and I picked cotton for local farmers and used the money for our winter shoes. We began in early, October mornings when our fingers were cold. We had to carefully avoid the prickly husk because the points were needle sharp and blood on white cotton wasn't good. By the time my bag was full enough to sit on, the day waxed quite warm. I spent much time daydreaming, picking one row to my sibling's two rows. I was delighted when I came upon a "skip", a place in my row my dear sister had picked for me. Once, before leaving for his job in a Mill, Daddy told me that I must pick 50 pounds. (Everyone else picked 100 pounds) at least! All that day I actually tried. At weighing time, the scale stopped at 49 pounds. I was distraught. The blessed farmer gave me 50 pounds, renewing my faith in humanity! Like Sjoerd, I credit my childhood training for the person I became, my ability to make-do, to create a garden which supplies delicious food, for all that my parents taught me.
I wonder how many children have that type "Privilege" today. I felt cheated that I never had a grandmother.
Growingpains, I feel for the children today who are catered to and basically rule the roost. Knowing you are a needed part of a family is the best feeling in the world, and serves the child throughout life. Let's give kids chores and see that they do them (this from a childless woman with three very spoiled cats.)
Marlingardner, do your cats have chores? Seriously, you're so right! I'm sure some parents give their children jobs to do. I have 5 grandchildren and they are all responsible adults, some barely adults. The youngest grandson has classes and is seeking a job. He has had a couple, but the last one ended. The other 4 all work.
